Railer soccer squad bites Bulldogs

Wednesday

May 8, 2013 at 3:50 AMMay 8, 2013 at 3:50 AM

By Mark Schnabel Newton Kansan

The Newton High School girls' soccer team got a piece of its own medicine Tuesday on senior night against winless, but scrappy Arkansas City in non-league play at Fischer Field. Newton has normally been the team in a defensive shell, trying to disrupt the opponent's offense. This time, Arkansas City stayed in a defensive position, keeping the Railers from making the runs. The Railer offense did manage to get loose in the second half to claim a 4-0 win. Newton outshot the Bulldogs 25-0. "It's the most goals we've scored all season," Newton coach Scott Jantzi said. "We created a lot of opportunities. We were unable to finish. This game shows our lack of being able to finish. The first half, I tried to have all the seniors in and all the foreign exchange students, and we were unable to put anything together. In the second half, we went to more of our system of play." Katelyn Zinn turned the hat trick for Newton, adding an assist. Starting goalkeeper, senior Kelsi Langley, was pulled at halftime and put up front, scoring her first high school goal and coming close on several occasions to scoring several other goals. "That was really fun," Langley said. "The last time I wasn't in goal was my sophomore year for senior night. They put a senior in goal that game. This is a big confidence booster. Me scoring fired a lot of people up. They see if I can do it, they can do it too. We're done with the one-goal games. We're either going to tie or win. No more 1-0 games. We've been training a lot harder. We just need to keep our intensity up. It wasn't there tonight, but we were pretty confident about the game." "Kelsi was able to get herself a goal and Katelyn is still on fire," Jantzi said. "We are still trying to get ready for the post-season." In Newton's last four games, the Railers have outscored opponents 9-2, finishing 3-0-1. Zinn has scored six goals in the last three games. Sophomore Afton Moore played the second half in goal for the Railers to share the shutout. Neither Langley or Moore were credited with a save as the Railer defense held a team shotless for the first time this season. Arkansas City goalkeeper Nicole Murphy had 14 saves in goal against 18 Newton shots on goal. Newton controlled the game from the start, but despite several saves and several other close shots, didn't score until Zinn finished on a breakaway in the 28th minute. Newton was able to organize its attack better in the second half, scoring in the 43rd minute on a Zinn goal from a Chloe Woodward crossing pass. Langley scored her goal about eight minutes later on a back pass from Zinn. A crossing pass from Leilani Medina in the 53rd minute allowed Zinn to complete the hat trick. "The field opens up, when you start passing well," Jantzi said. Newton's intensity level went down late in the game, but the Railers still created a number of chances. The Railers had 10 corner kicks in the second half, 12 for the game. There were only five fouls and two offsides called the entire game — three of the fouls and both offsides were against Newton. The Railers improve to 5-8-2, while Arkansas City falls to 0-15. Newton ends the season at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Campus, 3-10 (Tuesday's game not included). "We have one more game left," Jantzi said. "Hopefully, the weather cooperates. We hope to finish up strong."